Matrix Games Forums

We're starting the initial planning for 4.0. I plan to start actively developing it after the 3.5 patch has been released. The plan right now is October 2014, but since we are still in the planning stages, that is very tentative, and is more of something to measure progress against than something realistic. It could easily slip either way.

I'm sure Bob has a complete list of engine changes he wants to do. [&o]

One thing I want to do is to rewrite the UI to allow for a more modern look and feel. The actual map look and operation will stay similar, but I want to be able to do things like pin dialogs on one side, resize the minimap, speed up everything. I also want to allow for smooth zooming or at least a much faster zooming between levels. Modern machines have a lot of memory, and some of that can be traded for speed.

Oh, yes, it's also going to need other changes to allow someone to actually play a huge scenario like Fire in the East in one lifetime! A lot of what I've done so far has been more of a let's see what I can do without a major rewrite and not breaking anything. For 4.0, I want to do a larger rewrite to make the UI more consistent and simpler to learn.

Ralph

This makes my day! [:)][&o]

I'm sure Bob has a complete list of engine changes he wants to do.

There cannot be enough [&o]s

Though i think October 2014 is very veeery optimistic. Unless you're doing this full time now. Do you?

ORIGINAL: Telumar
Though i think October 2014 is very veeery optimistic. Unless you're doing this full time now. Do you?

I actually am doing it full time for now. That may change in the future of course.

Good to see you're back in action and the news that 4.0 is on the list is just damned great!

This is indeed great news. I guess that the code in the original TOAW is older than me;), but so far none have created a platform quite like it since it came out. War gaming at this level is not main stream but there are still allot of us around, and even if this is like.. 15 years old? Its still one of the best games that gives its users the ability to create something, and thereby contributing to its evolvement. I am a bit surprised that it has not been surpassed.
I can foretell that it will be in allot of dads Christmas socks in 2014 (Hopefully)
Looking forward to it very much, and let me know if there is something i can do to help. Especially if it involves drinking beers

Good News [&o]

You have done tremendous work with the AI (Elmer) and I hope you continue to do more of the same for both 3.5 and future v4.x

Sweet! I was starting to think that I had come to this game only in it's dying years. Nice to see that it will live on.

ORIGINAL: Falcon1

Sweet! I was starting to think that I had come to this game only in it's dying years. Nice to see that it will live on.

Falcon1,

TOAW will never die.

Best wishes,
Steve

Ralph,

[&o][&o][&o][&o][&o]

Best wishes,
Steve

Good news [:)]

Excellent news, and glad to see you back!

[:D] Great [&o]

Excellent news! Thank you!
We are looking forward to 3.5 and 4.0 and some day...12.3 (if I am still around). Already thinking of new and improved scenarios for both.
[&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o]

ORIGINAL: Lobster
You have done tremendous work with the AI (Elmer) and I hope you continue to do more of the same for both 3.5 and future v4.x

3.5 may be a little better, and I hope to add more designer options for 4.0. I'll always be tinkering with it, but it's probably going to be post 4.0 that I can try to add the strategic layer that it really needs. Laying out and dynamically modifying objective tracks is something I want to do, but analyzing a scenario is a tough thing to do, and humans have the advantage of being able to play and remember multiple play throughs. While computers can do this for some fields, it usually requires a lot of repetitions and doing that without human assistance for something like TOAW would be difficult.

ORIGINAL: docgaun
This is indeed great news. I guess that the code in the original TOAW is older than me;), but so far none have created a platform quite like it since it came out. War gaming at this level is not main stream but there are still allot of us around, and even if this is like.. 15 years old? Its still one of the best games that gives its users the ability to create something, and thereby contributing to its evolvement. I am a bit surprised that it has not been surpassed.
I can foretell that it will be in allot of dads Christmas socks in 2014 (Hopefully)
Looking forward to it very much, and let me know if there is something i can do to help. Especially if it involves drinking beers

It's a lot older, I suspect it's a highly modified core from Red Lightning (1989)

I'm not that surprised there aren't more like it. There is a bigger market now for games that can be played in 15 minutes to an hour chunk.

I still like the way that TOAW plays. Games with similar mechanics have always seemed to play more like Chess where you try to analyze moves and countermoves X moves ahead while TOAW has always reminded me more of Go where it's more about positioning. I don't know if it's the addition of supply, or because of the larger unit counts in many scenarios or something else.

Tough I know TOAW III can never use a simultaneous turn system, I would love that the new patches featured something that downplayed the "all army stands still" effect of the IGOUGO system.

Hard to believe it....the may not make 'em like they used to, but they can sure update a classic.

[X(] GRRRREEAAAT NEWS! Will there be some kind of kickstarte-campaign or something? Would be the first game I buy before release.

ORIGINAL: ralphtrick

I still like the way that TOAW plays. Games with similar mechanics have always seemed to play more like Chess where you try to analyze moves and countermoves X moves ahead while TOAW has always reminded me more of Go where it's more about positioning. I don't know if it's the addition of supply, or because of the larger unit counts in many scenarios or something else.

In TOAW, like the real world, there are so many variables that there's no way for even the most dedicated player to be able to work out odds in their head. What's more, the figures on the counter are only an approximation of what's going on under the hood.

In CRT-based games, you can sit there and scientifically work out how your attack is going to play out and make a straightforward evaluation of whether it has good or bad odds, even across multiple individual attacks. In TOAW, one has to get a feel for what one's units capabilities are, and how they will perform. In a well-designed scenario, you can say to yourself "well, I'm pretty sure this well-rested Panzer division should be able to cut through this screen and hook around to the enemy's rear before they can react" in the same way as a real commander could.

That's the value of the game for me: that I get the best results when I go with my gut, rather than when I try an analyse the game like a data system.